Increasing digitization and datafication lead to an increasingly important role of data in our society and to changes in the way institutions work and decisions are made. Although it can lead to changes in the type of crime (e.g. cybercrime), datafication also facilitates shifts from visible and registered crime to crime that has not (yet) been measured and registered, like manifestations of organized crime. Analyzing so-called big data can help to recognize new forms of crime, predict risk factors, and decrease the dark number of these forms of crime.
In this study, we illustrate which indicators determine the stage of an industrial area regarding the occurrence of organized crime. Our supervised machine learning analysis shows that a number of indicators actually have predictive value for the degree of organized crime. These indicators could be used in the future to distinguish which industrial areas run an increased risk of organized and subversive crime.

This article explores the boundary conditions an organization has to take to make the workplace, where all kind of people work together, a safe place. Employers are responsible for a safe working environment according to the Arbowet. The confidential councilor is an important part of the infrastructure against workplace harassment. Next to commitment from the top of the organization, a code of conduct based on the support of the employees, a complaints procedure with access to an independent complains committee, the confidential councilor is key to discover and act on workplace harassment. Not all confidential councilors are trained and aware of the pitfalls of the job. Organizations have to set boundary conditions. For example legal privilege within the organization and some sort of protection against retaliation. The confidential councilor follows the lead of the complainant and can put down the responsibility of solving the issue of harassment at the proper authority within the organization.

In the early years of kickboxing in the Netherlands, a number of fighters got involved in criminal activities. Literature typically focusses on social learning, but as the inner city of Amsterdam in the eighties provides a specific setting, this article particularly describes a historical process. In the qualitative data from interviews, observations, and various documents, three questions: Who were these kickboxers? Where did they enter the criminal circles? Why did they go along with what happened there? It turns out, successful fighters easily came in contact with people from the underground, as they met in the gyms and in the night life where many fighters worked as bouncers. In a friendly atmosphere, the risks of seduction were hard to recognize for inexperienced fighters.

Criminological literature shows that criminals involved in organized crime benefit from positive images in the media. By opening a hospital or donating funds for the development of a football field they try to present themselves in a cordial way and as good citizens to the public. Using the media to present themselves as animal lovers is a very effective manner to go for public admiration and sympathy. In this contribution is investigated how this mechanism works and why it is so effective.

Recent sociological research and socio-political debates about socioeconomic inequality and social divisions urge legal scholars, criminologists, policy makers and practitioners to have a renewed discussion about the role of socioeconomic status of suspects and offenders in judicial decisions. If social divisions in Dutch society are deepening, we need to look anew at the possibility that injustices of the social structure affect legal rights and decisions about prosecution, sentencing and probation. This article intends to offer various starting points for debate and research.

It is frequently claimed that the punishment regime in the Netherlands lately has become one of the most severe in North and West Europe. This claim is critically addressed using data over the period 1990-2011 from the European Sourcebooks of Crime and Criminal Justice. Prison stock data from recent SPACE I Annual Penal Statistics are also taken into account. These data hardly do warrant a reliable international comparison of punitivity levels in Europe. At any rate, there is no evidence that the punishment regime in the Netherlands is among the most severe in North and West Europe, on the contrary.

In deze bijdrage staat de vraag centraal hoe de rechter moet handelen als hij nieuwe informatie ontvangt in de periode tussen de sluiting van het onderzoek ter terechtzitting en de uitspraak. In 1922 werd daar in dit tijdschrift een discussie over gevoerd tussen De Jongh, rechter te Amsterdam en Besier, advocaat-generaal bij de Hoge Raad. Waar De Jongh meende dat de rechter doof en blind moest zijn voor deze informatie, kon deze volgens Besier hervatting van het onderzoek ter terechtzitting bevelen, omdat tijdens de beraadslaging is gebleken dat het onderzoek niet volledig is geweest. Beide opvattingen worden in deze bijdrage nader genuanceerd in het licht van de hedendaagse jurisprudentie over dit vraagstuk.

By expanding preventive powers, the Dutch criminal justice system is increasingly aimed at detecting risky people and groups as soon as possible. This so-called actuarial justice is accompanied by a great deal of discretionary power in the hands of those who have to enforce the law, bearing the risk that such powers may be carried out (in part) on the basis of generalizations relating to race, ethnicity, religion or nationality instead of on the basis of individual behavior and/or objective evidence. By presenting the results of an exploratory study into the perceptions of minorities with regard to racial profiling, the main conclusion of this article is that there is a clear necessity for further empirical research into this area.

Combatting honour related violence forms an important topic of criminal justice policy in the Netherlands. This article analyzes this policy, in particular the prosecution guideline on honour related violence, thereby focusing on victims and perpetrators, and the difficulties of dealing with the cultural background of honour related violence in criminal justice policy.

Vrijwilligerswerk binnen de sanctietoepassing staat in de belangstelling. Vaak worden utilitaire doelstellingen van dit werk benadrukt, bijvoorbeeld in de zin van het terugdringen van recidive. De inzet van vrijwilligers moet echter niet alleen in meetbare resultaten worden uitgedrukt om op output te kunnen sturen. Juist de ontmoeting van mens tot mens vanuit een intrinsieke motivatie en passie is belangrijk. Daarin ligt de versterkende waarde van het vrijwilligerswerk binnen de sanctietoepassing. Een waarde die voor de buitenwereld niet direct zichtbaar is, maar die wel bijdraagt aan een humaan detentieklimaat.

De maatregel ISD is een uiting van risicojustitie. De maatregel zet in op een risicovolle groep in de samenleving, waarbij het strafrecht prospectief wordt ingezet. In de behoefte de maatschappij te beveiligen tegen toekomstige risico’s is niet langer de ernst van de daad van belang, maar de ernst van het criminele verleden van de dader. De maatregel ISD zet in op het onschadelijk maken van stelselmatige daders om zodoende de maatschappij te beveiligen. Daarbij worden fundamentele strafrechtelijke waarden geschonden en wordt ernstig tekortgedaan aan de rechtsbeschermende positie van de stelselmatige dader. De stelselmatige dader is zondebok en slachtoffer van risicojustitie.

De reclassering voert een groot deel uit van de extramurale begeleiding van de tbs, zoals bij de tbs met voorwaarden, het proefverlof en voorwaardelijke beëindiging van de verpleging. Daarmee vormt de reclassering een belangrijk deel van de forensische psychiatrie in nederland. Desondanks wordt de reclassering in het tbs-veld vaak niet als zodanig beschouwd. De reclasseringsorganisaties zijn verantwoordelijk voor twee min of meer tegengestelde taken: absolute maatschappelijke veiligheid en tegelijkertijd maximale vrijheid voor de tbs-gestelde. Onder invloed van risicotaxatie en risicomanagement tracht de reclasseringswerker zijn taak te beperken tot toezicht en controle, terwijl rehabilitatie en change-management noodzakelijk zijn. Dit vraagt om de ontwikkeling van meer professionaliteit van reclasseringswerkers.